The Secret of the Legion
by isoner
Summary: Ch 12: Hot Rod vs Optimus Prime. G1 sortof. please R
1. Chapter 1

The Secret of the Legion

This story builds on some of the history, continuity and concepts developed in my story "Fragments". Standard disclaimers apply as I own nothing.

Chip Chase:

"Damn it! I told you I have information that can only give to Rodimus Prime!"

"I know all that Kup, just put me through to Rodimus Prime! If Ironhide or Optimus were still in charge, I wouldn't have to put up with this crap!"

"Its need to know information, Kup; I can only tell Prime. Why won't he accept any of my calls?"

…

Chip Chase slammed down the telephone.

Something was wrong, terribly wrong; and security protocols said he had to go directly to Prime or the head of the EDC; but under the circumstances it was impossible to go to the EDC for help. If the autobots wouldn't talk to him, he had to find something else.

The problem was that the plans for one of the BT bodies used in the Alternator project, and worse, two of the sleeping Alternators were missing. And seeing as there was no indication of a break in, Chip had to assume that the EDC had something to do with it.

Chip again picked up the phone and dialed a different number.

"Spike, this is Chip. How are you doing out there?"

…

"Not too good, actually. We have a situation here involving a classified Autobot project, and I can't get Rodimus to accept my calls; and I'm not sure I can trust anyone in the EDC anymore."

…

"I can appreciate that Prime is having some issues with the Japanese being upset about Decepticon attacks on Autobots on their soil, but I kind of think this is a bit more important."

…

"Fine, if you think I can trust her, Ill talk with her," Chip hung up the phone. He wasn't that surprised that Spike had not been able to help him. His job as Ambassador from Earth was proving very stressful; and he had begun to estrange his family from others even more since he had mentioned that he was starting to suspect his wife was a spy. Chip had tried to help Spike set aside his fears, but he had not been able to set aside his friend's fears. Still, Spike said he was going to send over one of the few EDC members he felt he could completely trust.

A few hours later, the EDC officer Spike referred him too came to his office. She didn't ring him from the front desk, so apparently she had the needed security clearance to reach his research facility. Well, that meant that she at least knew more about Transformers than the public as a whole. Despite firefights between Decepticons and Autobots on the streets of New York a majority of the population were unaware of Transformers or the space travel technology used by the EDC, UNIT, Science Patrol, Torchwood or other similar organizations.

"Captain Marissa Fairborn, at your service," the young woman said, "I'm told you are having a bit of a problem."

Chip smiled, and wheeled his wheelchair over to her, shaking her hand. "Welcome to Project Alternator. Do you know anything about it, or Transformers?"

"I have had several dealings with Autobots during my military career… and before that I had met Optimus Prime. He helped me during a… difficult time." She said, trying to maintain a professional and distanced attitude. "But, I have no idea what your project is about."

"Come with me," Chip said, turning his chair and taking her down a hallway. Soon they entered the main room. The first few areas held the failed experiments, human built powered down robots with partial sparks that the old staff referred to as Go Bots, but the newer workers called them spy changers. Then they passed the work stations containing car construction equipment, spark duplicators, and more equipment than he even remembered what it was for. Beyond that, row after row of cars, each one more than meets the eye as each one was a dormant human built Transformer bodies each containing a cloned spark. "This was a secret project, known only to Optimus Prime and a few of his advisors, its been forgotten now, by all but me. A few years ago and Autobot appeared on Earth from a possible future. Using the knowledge he brought back with him, we took the Binaltechnology they used to build these Alternate Transformers.

"Sleeping here in stasis-lock is Jazz, Wheeljack, Prowl, even Optimus Prime himself, all in human cybertronain hybrid bodies; with cloned spark cores meaning they are as real as the original Transformers who allowed their sparks to be copied. Wheeljack, Ironhide and others who died in the great war all sleeping here waiting for me to get the call to wake them up so they can live again."

Marissa stared in silence, her eyes gazing over each of the sleeping Transformers… some she remembered, others she had never met.

"The problem, Captain Fairborn is that there has been a security breach. Several years back the Decepticons managed to steal some of the Alternator designs to build their own; so I installed programs to monitor such file transfers in the future. The program alerted me to just such an illegal file copy a few months ago."

"Months? Why are you only reporting it now?"

"I did, the EDC checked the systems over themselves and assured me that no such data transfer took place…. But I know full well that it did. And there is more."

"What else?"

"Two of the completed Alternators have been stolen."

"What?"

"All computer records have been altered at a very high level to say that the Transformers in question were never made, but I was playing computer games with Optimus Prime regularly until he was kidnapped."

"Optimus Prime has been stolen? Are you sure? Who was the other one?"

"Optimus Prime was stolen last night, when I found out about it I did a physical inventory and discovered that a week ago someone took Hot Rod."

What would Rodimus Prime think about that one, Marissa wondered. "Why did you have Spike call me in instead of calling it in yourself?"

"Because the only ones with enough access to the system to steal the Transformers is the EDC itself. I don't know who I can trust with this."

"Thank you Mr. Chase, I will look into this personally. The Autobots are good friends of mine, I wont let them… or you, down."

Chip sighed as she left. It wasn't that long ago that he thought of the Autobots as good friends either, yet now, they wont return a single phone call.


	2. Rat Squad

The Secret of the Legion 2

Disclaimers…. I own nothing. This fanfic builds off of continuity and concepts that were established as part of my "Fragments" story.

Japan:

A thin pale woman stood in the darkened room, she was visible only from light of the computer screens that were scattered around the room; somehow this ghostly light made her seem somehow less than human. Almost as hollow as she felt. Her name was Amano.

On the other side of the room was a creature that was decidedly not human by any standards. Amano had no name for it. It reached out with a tentacle and sealed an access panel on a deactivated robot that lay between the woman and the thing. The robot was red, and bore a striking resemblance to the Autobot's current leader, Rodimus Prime.

"Memory alteration on Unit 02 is complete," it said. "Where is Unit 01?"

The woman's voice was as hollow as she looked. "The on site operative was to attentive to unit 01 to extract it unnoticed. Our American EDC operatives liberated it anyway; it will be here soon."

"Proceed with the preliminary experiment; the Primary Experiment will proceed once Unit 01 is conditioned and in play."

"Of course," Amano said with a bow that was more of a sag as she backed out of the room.

Four Mazda RX-8s, painted as police cars with EDC markings, slowly drove down an almost abandoned street. They came to a stop, and the car doors opened. A woman stepped out of each of them.

Ringo, a thin woman with medium length hair, midsized breasts and harsh features stepped out of car number 1. Car 3 belonged to Kaori, the tallest and most developed of the four women; and from car 2 was Kayu, an underdeveloped woman with short hair and almost boyish features. Shao-Shao a Chinese woman with long hair and a strange locket around her neck was in car 4.

"Ok, Rat Squad, Amano said the NBE signal is about 30 meters ahead," Ringo commanded, "Spread out and surround it. AutoTroopers, transform and move out!"

Each of the Mazdas transformed into a giant robot and followed its human partner as they each ran down a different side street. The clanking of feet was a surprisingly soft sound as they began to surround the NBE.

The Rat Squad new they were in the right area when they heard the sounds of crying and screaming; Ringo was not surprised by the sight that greeted them; Shao-Shao tried not to notice anything but the NBE; Kayu tried not to be sick; while Kaori found herself blinded by a vengeful rage.

The NBE was a car that had taken on a humanoid form and had begun eating the family of three that had owned the tainted vehicle. The head of the NBE had the very distinctive shape resembling that of the late Decepticon leader, Megatron.

"That's it, it's a Legion," Ringo whispered into her headset.

"My god! It ATE them," Kayu needlessly added.

"Lets kill it, before it can do any more damage," Shao-Shao said.

"I second that, what's the word, Ringo?" Kaori asked.

"Rat Squad: Attack!" Ringo commanded and the AutoTroopers all stood and readied their K-guns.

From all four sides, the Legion was assaulted by tiny yellow powerbolts. The monster screamed as its electrical systems were disrupted from the inside out.

No one noticed how Ringo's breathing grew faster from the excitement of watching the Legion agonize in pain; and her AutoTrooper seemed to share her joy. The two moved closer to each other, and the viciousness of the AutoTrooper's attack increased.

They all knew the purpose of the AutoTrooper experiment; of their ability to merge their skills with their mecha, and some theorized they could merge even more completely if their minds could sync up perfectly.

"We need to end this quick, the K-bolt energy is building up too high," Kayu shouted.

"Shao-Shao, your up!" Kaori cried.

Shao-Shao climbed up onto her AutoTrooper and merged with it; the metal side and works seemed to fold around and envelop her into itself. AutoTrooper 4 immediately became more animated.

Leaping from the roof of the building it was perched upon, number dropped its K-gun and attacked the Legion with a series of well placed kicks. Before long, the headless body of the Legion fell dead, and the head rolled off to the side.

"Kayu and I will take care of the remains," Ringo ordered, "the rest of you head back to base.

The AutoTroopers reverted back to their vehicle modes, and Shao-Shao and Kaori drove off while the other two waited for the cleanup truck to arrive.

"Come over here, Kayu," Ringo called.

Kayu tentatively approached Ringo and her car. "Yes, sir?"

RIngo savagely grabbed the smaller woman, and forced her down in her car.

America:

Marissa plopped down a stack of papers and computer disks on the desk in front of Chip.

"What's this?" Chip asked.

"You were right. That's everything I could find on the EDC operation. Its all well hidden, but I'm sure it's in those files. If it helps, I don't think it's the EDC as a whole, just a smaller splinter group," Marissa Fairborn told him.

Chip glanced over a few shipping invoices and the other information, before studying one of the computer disks before putting it into his computer. "Ill need to take a closer look at this information, but we need more time…. We need more help."

"I can go undercover and look around in that EDC's sector until we can establish how big their organization is. But you are right, we do need more help, what we need are the Autobots," Marissa said.

"Maybe you can get through to Rodimus Prime, Im ready to give up."

"Well, I could possibly get the Technobots, but I was thinking we could use these Autobots," Marissa said, gesturing to the dormant Autobot bodies that lined Chip's factory."

Chip looked at Marissa, and then at the Alternator body that housed a spark clone of Prowl, and smiled.


	3. Arrival

The secret of the Legion 3

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters contained or alluded to in this story… Except Kaori. :) This story follows continuity and concepts in my "Fragments" story.

Marissa Fairborn had not had the easiest of lives, but the irregularities of her past had given her certain advantages. She had been born to loving parents, her mother, Allison and her father Dashiell; they had had her out of wedlock and had kept her birth secret for many years because of the nature of their jobs. She frequently stayed with one set of grandparents or the other, with her parents coming to visit her as often as their jobs would allow.

When she was about ten or so, her parents were able to step back from their work and finally married properly. That had been the best time, when they were the family they always wanted to be. Her mom taught her how to throw the javelin and knives, and together her mom and dad and sometimes one or two of their old friends would teach her Judo. Marissa liked it when her parents old work friends would stop by, it would be like a party. They would swim, run and play all sorts of games, she had a fun time when the adults would be surprised that she could keep up with them.

Then, a few years later, her parents had to go back to work; a job she knew and understood now, but didn't as a child. That was when things started to fall apart. Her mother was murdered by Red Shadows. Worse, her father had been unable to cope with the loss. It was like she had lost him as well.

Later a situation happened, and things went terribly wrong but no one was around who could help her. It wasn't her father who had saved the day, but Optimus Prime. She was able to stay with him for a time until her father came to retrieve her. Her time with Prime had a great impact on her, it was like he was the father she had lost. When her father did retrieve her, it had been a good time, he was like he use to be, and frequently apologized for not being there for her, and promising never to be away again. It didn't last. She found herself longing for the father figure that Optimus Prime had represented more than she longed for her real father.

The contacts she had gained through her parents old friends had definitely come through for her. Chip managed to track what ship was moving the body of Optimus Prime to Japan. She had then been able to use her own contacts (and those of her parents) to move herself and her considerable equipment to Japan ahead of it. She had also discovered that a small resistance movement was growing that opposed Japan's recent anti-Transformer stand. Many of the leaders of that resistance movement were people who had been saved or helped by the Autobots over the years. They were none too happy to discover that what they viewed as the villainous EDC had possession over the body of Optimus Prime.

Marissa Fairborn arrived in Japan the hard way, with a forged passport, and by swimming from a submarine parked off shore. On reaching the beach she stripped off her wetsuit, revealing her white bikini swimsuit and recently dyed blond hair. She wasn't sure she liked the blond hair… it made her look six years younger and made her hair frizzy, but it was too late to go jet black and straightened now.

A Jeep Wrangler was parked at the top of the beach, waiting for her. Folded nicely in the driver's seat was a jumpsuit that she put on over her swimsuit. In the glove compartment were a few small electronic devices, a gun, and a set of throwing knives, all of which had been provided by Chip.. just in case. One of the small devices was a remote activator to wake up Optimus Prime and Hot Rod once she found them.

"Ok, lets find that resistance group and get some recon," Marissa said to no one who met the eye, "Then we can get the others in place."

As usual, Kayu tended to avoid the rest of the group when she reported for her shift at the EDC base. The other women on Rat Squad took it for granted that Kayu was just too shy to interact with them. Shao-Shao sat at her desk updating paperwork.

For a moment, Shao-Shao and Ringo's eyes met. Ringo stared at her intending intimidation, but the Chinese girl either didn't notice or didn't care, and flashed Ringo a friendly smile and waved. Ringo smiled back at her, before climbing off of her bar stool playfully and walking out of the room.

Amano, wearing her usual kimono was standing in the hallway, one ear listening to the Rat Squad ready room, but the rest of her attention focused on the central control room that was in front of her. She sensed rather than saw Ringo approaching her.

"In my office," Amano said, turning and walking down the hall to her personal office.

Ringo followed her commanding officer into the office.

"I don't think shes going to play ball," Ringo said.

"Hmmm…" Amano said, sounding like her mind was somewhere else entirely. "Truly a pity, while you and Kayu are the closest to achieving true unity with your mecha; but she does have the greatest pure natural talent. We cant afford to lose any players."

"But…" Ringo started.

"Don't worry, dear. Ill take care of it."


	4. New Player

The Secret of The Legion 4

Disclaimer: I own hardly any of the characters included in this fanfiction… most belong to TakaraTome and Hasbro.

"Your units located the tracker before it had a chance to locate a new player. I will activate a new tracker and provide it with an escort," the thing with the tentacles said. 'Where is Unit 01?"

Amano, looking less than human in the creature's workshop, stepped forward. "We detected a security breach, so I had the arrival of unit 01 delayed two more days."

"We are not patient. The experiment must begin."

Kaori of Rat Squad winked at Mamoru, a man from Rooster Squad, as they passed in the hallway. She didn't get to see the grin that spread over his face after she passed.

Amano surveyed the members of her Rat squadron. Ringo, a superb and ruthless fighter, almost perfectly aligned with her AutoTrooper. Kayu, also nearly perfectly aligned with her AutoTrooper, but she was meek and displayed the characteristics of an abused woman. Kaori was a fast thinker, eager to do her duty and she was compliant enough. Shao-Shao was truly gifted, but had not yet truly bonded with her AutoTrooper, and she was regal and defiant in her attitudes.

The alarm sounded, and all members of the squad snapped to attention. "Major disturbance at a subway terminal. Multiple NBEs sighted, believed to be Legion. Rat Squad go; Rooster Squad on containment. Be advised the target is mobile."

Amano hid a slight smile as the women of Rat Squad and the men of Rooster each ran for their AutoTroopers on the hanger level. So far it was rare for the squads to work together, but even now as two teams were being dispatched, they would not see each other in action.

"There is the CO," Marissa said into her radio, "Driving the same sort of car as the other EDC troops, but without markings." She was watching the procession of the EDC troops from the vantage point of a rooftop.

"Thanks for helping us out, Ai. Your intell, and help on our next OP, we wouldn't be able to do it without you," Marissa told the police woman on the other end of the radio transmission.

"Glad to help, just don't tell Koji." The voice returned.

Over the last few days Ai had helped Marissa and members of the resistance track the EDC and survey their attacks on the rouge part mechanical part organic machines that had been dubbed Legion. Marissa could only assume they were named that because their number seemed to be legion… at least there didn't seem to be an end to them. But then, she really couldn't see the beginning either.

She watched as four AutoTroopers transformed and somehow merged with their human female drivers. Two ran down into a subway, while the other two ran down an alley. Civilians were running and screaming even before the EDC arrived.

The arrival of Optimus Prime had for some reason delayed… Marissa and her group had decided to keep hidden until their objective could be reached.

The Legion backed up against a building, cornered by the two AutoTroopers. Both sides were oblivious to the crushed swing set and other property damage that had taken place during the chase across the city.

"Lets take it out, Ringo," Kaori said through her AutoTrooper. Her unit dropped it's K-gun and threw out a series of cones that snapped back, transforming into a Gatling cannon.

"Right! I'm through fucking around with this thing," Ringo agreed, similarly activating her Gatling cannon.

A loud 'thunt-thunt' sound echoed across the neighborhood. Asside from a head, the combined cannon fire had left next to nothing of the Legion.

When the smoke had settled, the AutoTroopers transformed back into cars, each of which held a now naked and slime covered woman. The EDC technicians had assured them when asked that the goo was merely mech fluid, but as she was wiping herself off before getting into a new uniform, Kaori had her doubts.

Amano had remained parked outside the subway, the rest of the civilians had been cleared out thanks to the efforts of Rooster Squad. She stood beside her car, waiting for news. There would have to be news soon… the pilots could only merge with the AutoTroopers for a specific amount of time. That time was fast running out.

At last an AutoTrooper climbed back out of the subway and transformed back into its car mode before speeding over to where she waited. She hurried over and opened the door to hug the crying, tired, naked and slimy Kayu. She held the younger woman close.

"Shao-shao is still fighting it… its still moving, a block west now," Kayu sobbed. "She's goanna run out of time..."

"Shhh…" Amano comforted, "We cannot afford to lose any of you. Go on back to base, and get cleaned up. I will settle things here."

Amano returned to her own car, while Kayu slowly drove back towards their base. Once the girl was out of sight, Amano gunned her own car engine to hurry to the fight location.

The AutoTrooper kicked, and again the Legion dodged, slipping past her once again, charging after a very scared fleeing young woman.

Bringing up its K-gun, the AutoTrooper fired, hitting the Legion in the leg, slowing it just enough to get in front of it again. She kicked again, this time it connected and pushed the Legion back a few meters. Just enough to buy time. But not enough time.

The panicked girl looked up at her would be savior only to see it go into some sort of seizures, as it fell before her. Beyond it the Legion again stood up, advancing is almost organic/transformer body towards her; its Megatron like head spouting a drooling Tung lusting after the meat of you helpless girl.

The AutoTrooper forcibly ejected a naked and slime covered Chinese woman on the ground next to her. The Chinese woman tied to stand, but apparently was too exhausted as she lost consciousness.

Several meters away was safety, blocked by an iron gate, and a woman stood behind it shouting something. The girl did not hear the pleas to help the mech, she was lost in the panic of the situation. She knew she would never be able to reach the iron gate in time, and there was no way she could get the Chinese woman to safety either.

She saw the Legion lunge for her, and knew it was all over when the AutoTrooper stepped in the way, deflecting the Legion's attack, but losing its arm in the process.

The AutoTrooper screamed and inaudible cry of pain to the heavens.

The Legion seemed to slow its actions, waiting for something, hoping that something would happen the way it wanted.

The young woman, named Atari, stood, the path to freedom forgotten; the naked Chinese woman, forgotten. All she saw was the injured AutoTrooper, apparently just as alive as the Legion, that had just given its arm in a vain attempt to save her life. She walked over to it, as it leaned down to her. She made a move to kiss it…

AutoTrooper unit 04 immediately enveloped her, absorbing a new power that few had seen before. Where the missing arm was, greenish organic goo covered tentacles grew out and quickly reformed into a robot arm identical to the one that was lost.

The orange cones appeared, and assembled into a gatling cannon; and within seconds the Legion was no more.

A dried off, and freshly dressed Ringo approached Amano as they both watched the AutoTrooper transform back into its car mode. They both knew the young girl would be passed out in the driver's seat.

"At last, we have a new player," Amano said.

"You never liked her, did you?" Ringo asked, matter of factly, "Was it because she was Chinese?"

"No. That just made it easy."


	5. Awakenings

The Secret of the Legion 5

Disclaimers: I own nothing…. Not the transformers, not the characters, and this the next and the last chapter took heavy story hints from another source… and if you haven't guessed what, then Im not going to tell you until its all finished. This story also uses concepts and backstory that is described in my story "Fragments."

Atari awoke to find herself in a hospital bed, with no clear idea how she got there. She tried to remember how she had gotten there, but it was all very hazy. She did not want to remember the giant techno organic Legion monster that was about to kill her, or her merging with another robot who happened to be there and killing the Legion. She remembered a hurt Chinese girl too, but assumed that she must have her own room somewhere in the hospital.

She stretched and pushed off the covers to get up, only to discover that she was totally naked. With a short cry she cover herself back up, and looked around the room for her clothes.

She heard a soft rapping sound at the door.

"Uh… Come in?" Atari invited.

A small not unattractive girl with short hair and carrying a package entered the room. "Hi, Im Kayu," she said with a bow. "I'm an EDC Soldier with the Rat Squad; pleased to meet you."

"Hi, uh, thanks. Im Atari. What happened?"

"Well, you are in for some big changes, but Ill help you anyway I can to adjust, Ok?" Kayu said. "First off you merged with an AutoTrooper and killed a Legion. You need to recover from that shock to your system and you'll be ok. In addition to me, there is Ringo, Kaori, and our commander Amano. I wish you could have met Shao-Shao but she was transferred to Dragon Squad this morning.'

"Um. Ok."

Kayu set the package at the end of the bed. "I hope you don't mind, but we didn't know your size so I had to measure you. Anyway, because of what you did, I'm afraid that they drafted you. Welcome to the team." Kayu reached out and shook Atari's hand.

So far Atari seemed to be taking everything in stride… it must have been the medication.

Atari woke again, feeling someone climbing on her bed. She opened her eyes to see Ringo standing on all fours staring her in the face. "Are you really joining the team?" Ringo asked.

The talk she had with Amano had shown her the many things that made joining the EDC an excellent opportunity. Asside from the Legion, she thought the job might even be fun. "Yes," she answered.

"Good," Ringo said with a smile, and she leaned in and kissed Atari square on the lips.

Atari was too shocked to react, and the kiss was too forceful for her to take any enjoyment from it, but then the slight pain of the kiss became far more intense, and she reactively pushed the other woman off.

Ringo continued to gaze into her eyes, with a pleasant grin, blood dribbled down her lip. "Im sorry," she said, "I just wanted to know what you tasted like." Ringo kicked herself up doing a handstand over Atari's head, then dismounted the bed like she was a gymnast and happily ran out of the room.

"Lumina will be standing by with a video camera; she will go to the media if things get out of hand. Ai will be just off site to call the police in when the shooting starts, and make sure the wrong people don't tow any abandoned cars," Marissa briefed her little group.

"Our surveillance counts 48 Autotroopers in service, all in the field in 12 groups of four. However we have traced supply records to show that 50 Autotroopers were actually produced. That leaves 2 unaccounted for."

"Only one unaccounted for," Marissa corrected, tapping on the scrap block she was using as a table.

"They recruited a new girl; but it will take a day or two of training before they give her a 'trooper. "But we have no idea what happened to whoever it is she is replacing."

"Is it always like that?" Marissa asked.

"Yes. They recruit new members regularly, but we have not been able to find anyone who has ever left the EDC 'trooper squads."

"Hmmm, well, we really don't know for sure what route they are going to take with the cargo, so we will have to intercept it closer to the EDC headquarters than I would have preferred. They can get reinforcements quickly if they need to," Marissa said.

"Yes, but so far they have never been known to use more than two squads for any one operation, no matter how badly outmatched they have been."

Kayu guided Atari through the EDC Command base, giving her the explanation of each room's function and making the necessary introductions. They both wore the EDC uniform, the one Kayu had gotten for Atari fit perfectly. Finally the tour got as far as the hanger bay.

"We use the Gattling Cone Cannons for doing massive amounts of damage," Kayu explained. "When we want to limit the property damage and loss of life we either have to resort to mecha Hand-to-hand or use the K-Guns. The K-guns use a form of semi-aware energy as ammunition."

"What sort of energy?" Atari asked.

"Back in 1984 or 85, during their war, the Transformers unleashed an electrical Kaiju on Japan. But in small enough units, they are harmless… painful, and disruptive to the electronics in Transformers, but basically harmless," Kayu said, holding up a tiny shell that had a tiny yellow creature pounding on the sides of the casing.

"Awww… its such a cute little Pokemon," Atari exclaimed, with a huge grin.

Kayu's grin grew to match, "I know! But we have to use them sparingly… if we concentrate too much of the energy in one area and it could gain the strength of the original."

"Hey guys!" Ringo called from across the hanger.

Atari instinctively reached up to touch the bite cut on her lip.

Kayu, instantly passive turned to Ringo, slightly bowed and said, "Good morning, Ringo."

"Are you enjoying the tour?" Ringo asked.

"Yes, its been a lot of fun. There is so much I have to learn, and Kayu is such a good teacher," Atari replied.

"Good. Kayu, stand at the end of the car," Ringo commanded.

Kayu meekly obeyed, standing at the end of the car with her head held low.

Ringo gently took hold of Atari's shoulders, and spoke silently, "There is only one more thing you really need to know." Ringo kneed the girl sharply in the stomach, but kept her from doubling over by harshly grabbing her breast and shoulders, "Do what I say, like I'm a princess, and we will get along fine. That's me, Princess Ringo."

She let the girl drop as she skipped out of the hanger.

Kayu couldn't bring herself to look Atari in the eyes, which was fine as Atari really didn't want to see Kayu then either. Atari was in too much pain to refuse Kayu's help getting up, but the tour was over.

Evening; the members of Rat squad busied themselves readying their AutoTroopers, while other EDC infantry squads readied themselves for combat, and climbing into the back of vans. An 18 wheeler and a flatbed truck also moved to join the convoy.

Kaor approached Kayu, "What happened, all of the sudden, she doesn't want anything to do with you? I thought you were getting along great with Atari."

"It was nothing," Kayu said, but it was an obvious lie.

"You want me to give her final instructions then?"

"I guess you had better."

Kaori picked up a rifle and went over to Atari. "Since you haven't had any real training yet, we wont be expecting anything from you this time. Take this rifle, and go with the infantry. If something should happen, just look threatening." She handed Atari the rifle with a smile and an encouraging pat then went back to her AutoTrooper.

"Everybody load up!" someone said over the loudspeaker, time was drawing near, and they needed to meet the ship that was shortly going to arrive at the docks.

Kayu stood upright, and ran across to catch Atari just as she was starting to climb into a van. "Look, Im sorry. I—I just couldn't help. Please take this… I'm truly sorry." Kayu held out a hand made bracelet the type a child would make for her friend.

Atari looked at the bracelet in the other girl's hand, and then at Kayu's face. The other girl could easily see the hurt in Atari's eyes. Kayu knew she should have done something to keep Ringo from hurting Atari… but she just couldn't at the time and she hated herself for it.

Amano personally oversaw the loading of the cargo off of the ship and onto the two trucks, not letting any of the guards or Rat Squad see what was being loaded. The 18 wheeler was locked shut, and there was a tarp covering the cargo on the flatbed truck.

Before long, the convoy was on the move from the docks, through the city. Kayu and her car were in the lead followed by the first van and the 18 wheeler. Then the car driven by Ringo and the flatbed truck, followed by another van and Kaori.

The closer the convoy got to EDC headquarters the more relaxed, but they all knew they were far from being safe. Even so, they didn't pay much attention to the yellow sports car they passed, nor the two Scions, or the green Jeep Wrangler.

Kayu called a halt, and brought her car to a stop just before a fallen tree that was blocking the road. She instantly knew it was terribly wrong… not just because their route had been blocked, but because there were no trees anywhere near the heart of the city, so who ever had done it went to considerable trouble.

The second they came to a stop, the van doors opened and the infantry ran out taking positions around both the trucks, but before they had even gotten into position, resistance fighters appeared on both sides of the roads and opened fire on the soldiers.

Atari, unsure of what to do, was knocked down by the rushing soldiers. She cowered behind the van when the machine gun fire began mowing down the guards around her.

According to plan, Kaori, Ringo and Kayu ducked down inside their cars… although it was all Kayu could do to not rush out to protect Atari. The resistance didn't waste time trying to eliminate the entire EDC taskforce, they secured the flatbed, checked under the tarp, and signaled Marissa while putting down suppressive fire to keep the other EDC troops away long enough for them to move the truck.

Marissa left her place of hiding, moving from cover to cover to join the resistance members on the flatbed truck. Ignoring the almost constant sound of gunfire she flipped back the front tarp, revealing the head of Optimus Prime.

Atari and the guards and Kaori all stared in shock at the cargo on the flatbed truck. They all knew about the constant tension between Japan and the Transformers… the thought that they could have been transporting the body of the most famous Transformer of all time was a complete shock.

Amino as if responding to a command from elsewhere, stepped out of the van she had been waiting in, and stared, heedless of the bullets at the blond haired girl who had just joined the resistance fighters. "The Blond must not be harmed!" She ordered the EDC forces, "I need her to be taken alive!"

"Yes, we've got it," Marissa said, "Now, lets get it out of here."

Ringo, Kaori and Kayu each merged with their AutoTroopers, transforming into robots. Ringo's had already equipped its Gatling cannon.

"No!!" Marissa shouted too late as the AutoTrooper unleashed a fury of bullets that reduced the body of Optimus Prime and the Resistance on the flatbed truck into so much scrap and muck.

It was either extreme luck or skill on Ringo's part that caused Marissa to be thrown free. Kayu's AutoTrooper stepped forward to take a clear aim at Marissa with her K-gun.

Marissa rolled clear in time to see the AutoTrooper with its menacing glowing red eye slot pointing a gun at her. There was a yellow flash from the barrel, and the last thing Marissa heard before agonizing pain was a high pitched "—zeeeeekkk!"

It happened quickly, but the pain was such that it took forever. Starting with her feet and moving up her body, every mussel contracted, and every neuron fired at once. Her feet, her legs, her hips, her stomach, her back, it avoided her heart and chest but climbed up her spine into her neck and brain. As the shock caused her to relive every memory, sensation, and pain at once, Marissa passed out and fell to the ground.

"Sweep the area, make sure we got them all," Amano ordered as the remaining guards spread out. She moved over to stoop next to Atari. "Are you doing OK, dear?"

"I, I think so. Ill do better next time, I promise."

"I know you will, dear. Just stand by the other truck and holler out if you see anything else," Amano said in a motherly tone.

Kayu in her AutoTrooper stayed near the front Truck, while Ringo and Kaori walked down the street scanning for more resistance fighters, but they had apparently gotten them all.

Junko and Lumina sat together in a blue sports car instead of their regular vehicles, as Marissa and Chip had asked of them. The AutoTroopers patrolling the street looked right at them and kept on going. They had no idea how they had not been seen while sitting out in the open.

"This didn't go as planned," Junko said, "What should we do?"

"It's too late for us to help them," Lumina said, continuing to point her camera at the AutoTroopers and the burning wreckage of Optimus Prime.

Marissa Fairborn began to come back to her senses. She didn't move at first, she just thought. That wasn't Optimus Prime they had destroyed. They would never have destroyed something they wanted protected so badly… and second, while it looked exactly like the Prime she remembered from days of old, it didn't look like the Optimus Prime body that Chip had constructed as part of the Alternator project. She found that she still had a gun in her hand.

The other truck, that had to be it. She aimed her gun, carefully at the lock on the trailer, while moving her other hand to her knife. She would have to be perfect, get the trailer and get out before anyone had a chance to stop her.

"Look out!" Atari yelled, pointing at Marissa.

Marissa fired, and immediately began running for the truck.

Kayu fired her AutoTrooper's K-gun. Missing, she dove to physically protect Atari from any further shots by Marissa.

Marissa didn't fire anymore, as she ran past Amano running for the tractor trailer, she had her knife out and ready.

Kayu in her AutoTrooper misjudged her inertia as she ran to protect Atari and clipped the side of the Trailer, knocking it apart.

And inside the trailer… Optimus Prime.

Marissa dropped the gun and pulled out a signal box that had been supped up to deliver a signal powerful enough to punch through any jamming.

Kayu lost all control over her AutoTrooper… through it she felt an all consuming lust and hunger for the unused life-energy that lay within the dormant Transformer. She wanted it, needed it above all else. Just as she began to come to terms with these new feelings that were flowing through her, it all ended. She felt the cold nighttime air on her soaked naked body as she fell from the AutoTrooper to the ground.

Marissa stared in horror as the AutoTrooper bent down over the body of Optimus Prime and became more organic, unlike anything she had ever seen before. It reached down into the body, attempting to absorb or merge with it. She finally reached the trailer, but feared she was too late…

Atari stared in horror at the naked unconscious form of Kayu, or more specifically the bruises on her buttocks, back and breasts. She just knew that those bruises were not combat related. Suddenly she thought she understood why Kayu had not been able to help when Ringo had hurt her… Ringo must have been hurting Kayu for a long time before she had even gotten there.

Kaori stared in horror at the rouge AutoTrooper and its bizarre transformation. She didn't know why, she didn't know how, but the form it was taking to absorb the transformer body was too much like a Legion for comfort. It made her wonder about the AutoTrooper she, herself was joined with.

She pressed the button on the signal device which sent a powerful activation signal to the dormant Optimus Prime. The moment his cloned Spark became active, and aware, it was enough to drive the vampiric AutoTrooper out. The AutoTrooper recoiled as if burned and returned to its normal robotic state… and then reverted back to car mode.

"Prime!! Get me out of here!!" Marissa called out.

Optimus Prime, living up to his reputation immediately scanned the area and accessed the situation. He transformed into a red F-150, drove out of the trailer, and came to a stop in front of Marissa.

"Get in," he said, and the moment she complied they drove off losing themselves in the city.

Not far away, the activation had another effect. A dormant red robot also came online… and screamed. Hot Rod could not cope with the guilt… he was responsible for Optimus Prime's death by getting in between him and Megatron… worse when he had thrown Galvatron out into space the drifting body had landed in the heart of Tokyo killing millions. He could not cope with that level of destruction and needed to make amends…


	6. Breakout

The usual disclaimers apply, as I own nothing save for most of the toys included in this story. This story uses backstory and concepts established in my Fragments story.

The Secret of The Legion 6

Shao-Shao woke to discomfort. The last thing she remembered was being forcibly ejected from her AutoTrooper, so she expected to wake up in a medical ward, instead she found herself naked, and suspended within a transparent tube. The pain she was feeling came from the fact that she was being suspended by her hands that were bound above her head.

The tube she found herself in was perfectly sterile with some form of constant wash system built in keeping the sides and bottom perpetually clean. She had to of been in the tube for some time, but there was no sign of any of her own waste at the bottom of the tube.

The pathway she could see in front of her tube was just as pristine and sterile, if it had been a sex dungeon she would have expected something less clean and well lit. The real horror was what she saw next.

Shao-Shao was surrounded by identical tubes, each with a body in them, most were most definitely dead, other she couldn't tell, but she hoped that they were, as each body has significant portions missing from them as if they had been partly eaten. The tube across from her held a headless man with a chunk missing from the side of his chest. On his belly, just below the navel was written Rooster-2.

Rooster squad pilot of unit 2… she knew him. Kenji. He had been transferred out of his squad a few days before. Row after row of half eaten bodies, everywhere she could strain her neck to look. How… why… what ate them? She suddenly realized she had a very personal reason for finding out.

Her mind was in a state of shock, that was the only reason she could think that she wasn't throwing up, crying or in a state of panic. She heard what was the distinct sound of something eating coming from behind her… she was filled with dread, but forced herself to turn enough to look at the tube behind her.

The last bit of a leg was disappearing into the mouth of a Legion, whose disembodied head was at the top of the tube.

Mustering every bit of self control she had, she looked up at the roof of her own capsule. Sure enough, there was the head of a sleeping Legion… but it was starting to move, and wouldn't be sleeping for long.

Amano, Atari and the others stared helplessly as Optimus Prime drove away. Only Ringo pursued with her AutoTrooper running after him.

"Scan for NBEs," Amano ordered Kaori.

"Yes commander," Kaori said, her AutoTrooper raising its forearm up as if looking at a watch. Whatever readouts she was seeing were not visible outside the AutoTrooper. "Im not picking up anything." And she didn't; not the vanishing red pickup truck; not any secret hostages at the EDC headquarters; not even a green jeep wrangler parked next to its own foot. The only thing that it registered were the three AutoTroopers that were part of Rat Squad.

Amano thought hard; why didn't the Transformers register as the AutoTroopers, Legion and previous Transformers had. The scanners were designed to look for key components and compounds that were part of the alien machines. Then it hit her, this Optimus Prime that they had captured to use in the master experiment had been a project of the BinalTech based Alternator project… 100 human constructed. No wonder it didn't show up on scan. Their best hope lay in Ringo chasing down Optimus Prime, unfortunately she knew that Ringo was fast running out of time before she would be forced to separate from her AutoTrooper.

Atari had been effectively forgotten, among the surviving EDC guards, she held the unconscious Kayu whose nudity was covered up by her jacket. She needed Kayu to wake up so she could tell her that she forgave her and understood why she had let Ringo hurt her.

An explosion rocked the earth, and it wasn't from the direction Optimus Prime and Ringo had headed, it came from in front of the convoy. It came from EDC Headquarters.

Amano looked around, alarmed, and called into her radio. "Ringo; abandon persuit… we are needed back at base. NOW!" She then turned towards the nearest guard and commanded, "We need to clear the road blockage, so we can get back immediately.

The guard nodded, his eyes never really leaving Amano's cleavage that shown the way she wore her Kimono over off her shoulders. He did move to the front of the convoy calling other guards to help, but when they got to the front truck the tree that had caused the convoy to stop in the first place was not there. There was no sign that the tree had ever been there… and the now faint smell of ozone remained undetected.

The same unheard signal that had reactivated Optimus Prime also reactivated the Alternator form of Hot Rod. He screamed as he tried to assimilate the tragic events of his recent past; not realizing that most of those trouble memories were fictions planted within him for some unknown purpose. Prime was dead because of him; he had defeated Galvatron, yes but the body had traveled through space and crashed into Earth, destroying the city and killing millions; worst yet the body of Galvatron had somehow infected spores on earth leading them to leach onto Earth machinery creating the vicious Legion monsters that now killed humans almost at will… and it was all his fault.

An alien with tentacles who had been working with Amano to complete its greatest experiment dealing with Trans-Organics was startled by the unexpected awakening and screaming of the Hot Rod, the red robot it had designated as unit 02. It tried to move back and hide itself in the back corner of the room.

Something it the aliens act of moving alerted Hot Rod. He looked up, and a visor slid into place giving him perfect vision in the darkened room. He saw the creature, as clearly as anything, and called it by name. "Quintisson…"

The last memory Hot Rod had of the Quintissons had been when they tried to feed him and Kup to the Sharkticons. Seeing himself as being in an enemy stronghold, he grabbed two sticks from his legs that transformed into twin pistols, and then put them together forming a more powerful gun. He aimed at the floor and fired.

The explosion rocked the building to the foundations, and set off car alarms down the street, but when the smoke had cleared, Hot Rod had disappeared.

The Quintisson feared he had gone down the newly created hole; into the secret labs that lay below. He could not be allowed to learn the secrets that lay below. Why was it always this transformer, either as Hot Rod or Rodimus Prime that continually foiled their plans.

Shao-Shao was fighting for her life. The Legion head had fully come to life and sprouted organic tentacles that were reaching for her. It seemed that her mere presence near it was enough to spawn new growth in the Legion.

She bit down hard on a tentacle that tried to reach down and grab her around the neck which recoiled in pain. It reached out with four more.

Using the side of the tube for leverage, she managed to kick the Legion's face. It bit down on her foot, but she managed to wrench her foot back before it bit it off.

With each blocked attack on her, and each failed attack on her, the Legion seemed to grow in size and strength. There were more tentacles and psudo-arms reaching for her than she could handle, reaching at her and hitting her from all sides.

An explosion rocked the room, distracting the Legion from her as debris and ceiling came falling down to the floor in front of her tube.

A giant red robot landed in front of her, and for a moment their eyes met.

Hot Rod looked around, scanning the room, accessing the situation instantly. Only one of the humans was still alive, and he was not sure what sort of being was gestating on top of each of the 24 tubes in the room.

Each of the Legion reacted to him as well, and stretched out tentacles trying to grab the newest arrival, each wrapping around his neck.

To Hot Rod the fledgling Legion were not a threat. Shao-Shao did not see where he pulled the quarter-staff from, but watched as he swung it around freeing himself from the Legion. He swung it again, bashing the tops off of each of the tubes. Bits of corpses fell to the floor with shattered glass, Shao-Shao fell as well but was caught by Hot Rod.

Then the pole was gone, replaced bya triple beam blaster that quickly disintegrated the Legion heads.

"Are you OK?" He asked.

Shao-Shao could do nothing but cough.

Hot Rod looked down at her with concern, his sensors sizing her up and running a medical diagnostic on her. She didn't appear to be seriously damaged.

One: he was in hostile territory. Two: He needed to escape and get the girl to safety; with luck she would be able to fill him in on what was going on with the Legion. Three: The girl was naked and she would need some clothing.

He performed a scan of the levels above him and found a room with a closet full of clothing that was the right size for the woman. Most of the upper level was too small for him to fit. He ran down the oversized hallways on his current level until he was under the small room of clothing.

He took less than a microsecond to scan the closet and picked out a dress he thought would look good on the girl. After all, human women liked to look pretty… it would be good for her morale. He punched up through the ceiling and carefully picked the dress off the hanger.

For some reason, he felt stronger while holding the girl… but he was too busy to think about that.

He focused on scanning for the nearest exit… or wall.

Ringo and Kaori reached EDC Headquarters first, wearing fresh uniforms and their AutoTroopers in car mode. Once they arrived, the climbed out and the Troopers transformed into robot mode. After having spent so much time merged with them already, they could not risk remerging with the AutoTroopers again so soon even though the Troopers would be operating at a much reduced efficiency.

The AutoTroopers were already in position and had their K-Guns ready when the side of the building exploded out and the red robot emerged from the building.

Hot Rod kicked out at the AutoTroopers with a skill he didn't have, and succeeded in disarming the two robots. Before the dust had settled and the AutoTroopers had begun picking themselves up, Hot Rod had already transformed and was vanishing into the city.


	7. secrets

Secret of the legion 7

Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers, or the characters included in this story. While much of this fanfiction has been totally original, many elements have been taken from the Kiss Player's back story. The purpose of this fanfiction has been, and will continue to show the elements of that series that I like, while dropping many of the elements that fans have objected too. This chapter is the darkest that I have written so far, and is the reason this fic has a teen rateing. Enjoy, and please remember that reviews feed the muse.

Amano looked down in disgust at the reports that cluttered her desk. Repair estimates for the damaged wall. Cover stories to explain the damage and what had been found in the ruined labs. Useless tracking reports on two rogue transformers. But worse still was what waited for her in her private office where the alien, the one Hot Rod recognized as a Quintisson was waiting with even less good news about how the missing Transformers has majorly jeopardized the Alpha experiment, and the destruction of Breeding lab 1 was severely delaying progress on Gamma experiment. While the alien was not prepared to admit it, she felt that the loss of Kayu had greatly set back the Beta experiment.

While it was true that Kayu had not been injured on her last outing, her AutoTrooper had rejected, and ejected her in the middle of a combat situation. EDC policy required that any player who was rejected from their AutoTrooper be immediately transferred to Gamma experiment. Usually when that happened the rest of the team was told that they had been transferred to a team they don't normally interact with. Therefore, Kayu was the first of the next batch of Gamma experiments, which was a shame as she and Ringo were the most gifted of the Beta test subjects. She supposed she would just have to go on another recruitment drive and hope to find someone as gifted and docile as Kayu had been.

"Optimus, what about the others?" Marissa asked the ford pickup truck she was driving down the streets of Japan, heading towards the nearest beach.

"We will leave them where they are for now. I don't want any overt action from them until we know exactly what is going on here. We also need to find Hot Rod."

"As near as I have been able to determine, Hot Rod is being stored somewhere in EDC Headquarters."

"The signal you used to reactivate me reactivated him at the same time.'

"How can you be so sure?"

Optimus Prime displayed a small hologram of a transformer sized hole in the side of the EDC building.

"His last memory update should have included my death, so we will need to contact him carefully. For now it is a waiting game. You should rest now, while we have the chance.

Prime drove onto the beach and parked.

Marissa gave up, it had already been a very busy day, with lots of deaths. She thought about doing some surfing, but there had been too many deaths. She gazed out at the crashing waves instead, loosing herself in the sounds and repletion of movement.

Prime tried to take some comfort in watching his new human companion relaxing on the beach, but he couldn't help feeling that they were somehow being tracked.

"What the hell were you thinking?!?" Shao-Shao screamed at her rescuer, Hot Rod. He had only gotten one dress for her. Hands as big as his could have gotten the entire closet in one grab, but instead he had only grabbed a single dress.

It wasn't a bad dress really, it was very stylish and looked good on her, what's more with the long split up the leg, she could move freely. To test it out, she performed a few high kicks.

Watching her practice her moves in the dress, Hot Rod's eyes became large and his jaw dropped, realizing that he had in fact made a dreadful wardrobe mistake. Shao-Shao herself did not realize it until she noticed the expression on Hot Rod's face.

"You bastard, why didn't you grab me some underwear too?"

"Look, Im sorry, Ok? Well just have to get you some. Just get some rest for now," Hot Rod said, "I'm going to do some fishing."

Hot Rod closed the door on the tiny shack Shao-Shao was taking cover in and walked across the street to the beach. What Shao-Shao had mistakenly assumed was a fighting staff, was in fact his fishing rod. She felt slightly left out, being left alone while he went fishing, and being left alone reminded her that she owed the transformer her life. She needed to be more kind to it, but she felt way too vulnerable without any underwear.

Ringo looked around, just to be sure she was alone. She knew she was, and no one else would be down here for hours. They didn't like to watch, and on top of that they didn't know that Ringo knew about the secret labs. They were so afraid that if anyone else found out about them, and the evil nature of the labs that the AutoTrooper pilots would turn against them, but Ringo… she just didn't care.

She gazed up at the glass tube in front of her, and her eyes went manically wide with excitement. With a sexual desire, she gazed on Kayu's naked body suspended within the tube. Her boyishly short haircut that made her face look slightly chubby, the way her hips were just the right extra width to give her belly that hour glass appearance, with her arms above her head like that she barely had any tits. Ringo preferred when her arms were down and Kayu's tits were squished up against each other.

Slowly Kayu regained consciousness, and began to realize the horror of her situation. The half eaten bodies in the other tubes, the sleeping Legion head above her, and her abuser and team mate on the path below, just looking up at her with a wild look.

"Help me, sempai," Kayu whimpered.

"Do you ever listen to your AutoTrooper, Kayu?" Ringo asked, ignoring the plea for help.

"N-no. They cant talk… please, Ringo…"

"When we are merged, mine tells me all sorts of things. You just have to know to listen properly."

Kayu looked up at the sleeping head above her, and struggled futily against her bonds. "Its starting to wake up…"

"Did you ever wonder what happens to our uniforms when we merge with the AutoTroopers? That goo we are covered in is digestive juices… our cloths digest quickly. That is the reason for the merge time limit. If we stay merged too long the effects of digestion will be obvious on us. They just want them to absorb our souls, not our bodies. But if you stay in too long in one go, then the digestive juices soak in too far and you will digest quicker next time. That's when they cant use you as a pilot any more. Still… I don't see why they couldn't make the timer shorter. Still, your trooper rejected you before your timer ran out… they don't know why, but rules are rules, and here you are."

Kayu struggled harder against her bonds, her thrashing only serving to hasten the reawakening of the Legion. "Why wont you help me?"

Ringo grinned even larger, "I just came down to watch."

The Legion was fully awake, and began its attack. Kayu struggled against it for a little while, before succumbing to panic.

Ringo found her gaze fixed on the side of Kayu's thigh, the part where the buttocks curves into it. That was always her favorite part of Kayu. She was fascinated as the crease of her bottom came and went as her leg thrashed around, watched a dribble of blood trace the contours of her leg, and then the leg hung limp in death.

The Legion, of course, still had plenty of feasting yet to do on the corpse, but the part that Ringo liked to watch was done. She wished she had been able to watch Shao-Shao in the tube. She had never gotten as good enough look at the Chinese girls tits as she had wanted before. Leaving the lab, she turned back just once to again fix her stare on the leg… oh, how she wondered what it tasted like.

Ringo stumbled as the installation shook. It wasn't an explosion, but something had definitely just happened in the hanger bay.

Atari was in the hanger walking around her AutoTrooper, still not quite able to believe that this transforming robot was going to be hers. She had already taken it out for a drive that morning; and she already felt a real connection with it. Across from her, the AutoTrooper belonging to Kayu unexpectedly came to life, and transformed with a horrible racket, breaking its bonds, and knocking down half the equipment near by.

The AutoTrooper let out an uncharacteristic howl as it stood, that Atari equated with unbelievable sadness.

As techs were running to sound the alarm about the rogue AutoTrooper, Atari approached it. "Whats wrong? You need to calm down," she said to it.

And it did seem to calm down some when it saw her. It approached and kneeled down before her, and reached out its hand, offering her the friendship bracelet that Kayu had offered her previously.

Atari took it, asking "Is this from Kayu?"

The AutoTrooper nodded, and stood back up.

Ringo having hurried up from having heard the initial commotion of the AutoTrooper's awakening. Jealousy fueled her rage at the sight. Kayu had already merged with her AutoTrooper enough to make it capable of independent action… it may even have achieved life. There was no doubt in her mind that it was Kayu's death that Triggered the Trooper's actions. For better or worse, there was nothing else to do. If it was alive then only Kayu would be able to control it.

Atari looked in horror as events went way out of control much too fast. Behind her, Ringo had transformed her AutoTrooper and merged with it. Before Atari even realized it, Ringo was already riddling Kayu's AutoTrooper full of holes with her Gatling Cannon.

It could have been the senselessness or the savagery of the killing of the AutoTrooper, or it could have been Ringo's girlish laughing as she did the deed, but something in Atari snapped. She really wasn't sure what happened next.

Atari's own AutoTrooper transformed, and kicked the Gatling Cannon out of RIngo' AutoTrooper's hands. Another kick, and the AutoTrooper was thrown against the back wall. Atari's AutoTrooper stood in front of it defiantly, challenging Ringo to do something else.

Ringo exited her AutoTrooper, ignoring her nakedness, she glared with newfound hatred at Atari and her AutoTrooper, but for now the violent crisis had been resolved.

Transformed into his robot mode, Optimus Prime sat on the beach, watching Marissa surfing on the waves. It was a tranquil setting, that helped him think, but something began to nag his senses.

Standing up, Optimus Prime looked around. Somewhere close something was watching them… hunting them. It wouldn't be long before it revealed itself.


	8. Prime Vs the Legion

Secret of the Legion 8

Disclaimers: I still own nothing and have no rights to any of the characters included in this story, but from here on out any resemblance between my story and the Japanese continuity of Kiss Players will be a lot less likely. Sorry for the delay between last chapter and this one…. Please review, it feeds my ego and keeps me in a writing mode.

Carrying her surfboard, Marissa Faireborn left the ocean waves to stand behind Optimus Prime, who had just taken a combat stance. That was when they attacked.

She couldn't tell how many of them there were, but at least a dozen, moving swiftly but mindlessly, like savage starving animals towards them. Each of them had the face of Megatron, but other than that, each one was different. They obviously could transform into different cars or trucks, and a few looked like they had animal forms.

Optimus Prime fired his gun into the crowd, disabling several of the beings the EDC called Legion, but it did not slow the rushing horde in the least. It was obvious that Prime would not be able to stop them all before he was overwhelmed.

Within seconds they had gotten too close. Prime sent one flying back with a forceful kick, and shattered the head of another by slamming his fist into it. Still, they did not stop, if anything they were attempting to ignore Prime entirely, he was just in the way. They were after her.

Realizing the situation, Prime turned and ran, grabbing Marissa and her surfboard as he past them, trying to put as much distance between them and the Legion as he could. It was a very short term solution, they knew the Legion would be able to keep up, but it also kept them off balance.

More than anything, Marissa wished she had some sort of weapon she could use against the Legion, or was at least wearing her old uniform instead of her bikini swim suit.

Running wasn't buying them enough time. He skidded to a halt, his feet digging trenches in the sand as he twisted around to again face the on rushing Legion. In spite of herself, Marissa leaned and gave Optimus Prime a quick kiss just before he set her down just behind him and held her surfboard in one hand like a club with his gun in the other.

He paused, as if processing a fresh download of information, and with a process not fully understood utilizing Prime's self repair nanites the surf board was reformatted. Marissa knew that Prime was no stranger to bladed weapons, his original body was known to poses and energy axe, but she was still surprised that the weapon her surf board transformed into was a saber.

Prime leveled his handgun at the onrushing horde and again fired shot after shot, while Marissa tried to stay close but not underfoot. Still the Legion came.

Prime discarded his pistol once they came too close, and literally began cutting the Legion down, one after the other. He reached up and split the blade in half, and began using it as two knives cutting a Legion down with a swipe of each hand. He was secretly glad that the Legion were so focused on Marissa, because if they had been focusing on him or even on defending themselves, it would be a very different fight.

Finally there was only one Legion left, and for the first time during the fight it seemed to notice Prime's presence, although it continued to glare at Marissa. It turned to run away, but Prime knew it could not allow even one to escape.

Prime threw one of the blade halves as Marissa use to throw her mom's old throwing knives, even using her same fighting stance while doing so. The blade imbedded itself firmly in the Legion's back, permanently deactivating the mech.

Optimus Prime calmly picked up and stowed the pistol he had cast aside, then slowly walked over and retrieved the blade from the back of the fallen Legion. Silently he surveyed the carnage he had caused, a reflective moment of silence for the loss of the lives he had taken.

Walking back to Marissa, Prime put the two blades back together as a surf board and handed it to her before transforming back into a pickup truck.

"We need to get going," Prime said, "They will be sending more."

Marissa nodded as she climbed in.

Deep in the EDC's secret lab, Amano approached the Quintesson. It seemed unusually disturbed for some reason.

"The Legion is not properly responding to commands," it said.

"Is it because of our failures involving Kayu? She was our most promising recruit."

"That is a possibility, but if so, it could be an indicator of success."

"But how could that be affecting all of them?"

"Do you not understand yet? The purpose of this expirament is to engineer new souls for these bodies… at present, while there are many Legion bodies, there is only one Legion… only one mind or spark divided among them all.


	9. Hot Rod Vs the Legion

The Secret of the Legion 9

Same disclaimers and notes apply to this chapter that applied to the others. Sorry but this one is super short... I like it though, and builds on to what comes next.

"It's a trap, isn't it?" Hot Rod asked his human companion, Shao-Shao.

The two of them were crouched on top of a building watching two Legion as they tormented a family that had been unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open by them.

"Almost definitely," the Chinese girl replied, "The Legion doesn't harass people like this, they simply eat them."

A visor slid down over Hot Rod's eyes and he scanned the area again. "Yes, there are more of them in the buildings. Bodies too, guess they didn't feel the need for a lot of bait."

"We cant let them get away with this," Shao-Shao seethed.

"There was never a doubt about that," Hot Rod said, his cockiness was beginning to resurface as it did when the odds continued to stack against them.

She hated that aspect of his personality, especially the way his cockiness resembled the boys in Rooster Squad, but in the days she had been in hiding with him, she had found many redeeming qualities to the Autobot. She stood up and kissed him on the cheek, "By the way, thanks for getting me the new panties."

"Hey, no sweat, Doll," he said, "Get ready to catch." Then without giving her a moment to think, he flipped out his fishing pole, casting a line that wrapped around one of the two tormented human prisoners. With a jerk of the line the surprised human found themselves flying up through the air.

Shao-Shao had to dive in order to catch the man safely, she wished it could have been more graceful, but at least he was safe now, and Hot Rod continued to show off.

The nanoclick the first human was out of harms way, Hot Rod made a running leap off of the building. He fell through the air, the sun behind him. The fishing pole transformed into a tri-beam gun that fixed itself to his forearm, as his hands grasped the twin pistols mounted on his legs. He landed with a graceful thud; one foot to either side of the other human hostage and her child. He fired each pistol once, each shot through the head of the two Legion that were out in the open.

The Legion that burst through the wall behind him was immediately taken down as it met Hot Rod's foot, while another was cut down by his triple beam cannon before it had even made it through its wall. Then silence.

"Is that it?" he wondered. Again the visor slid down over his eyes as he surveyed the city around him, but there was no sign of any additional Legion.

Unnoticed, another Legion, one that was different from all the others, watched as Hot Rod reassured the woman he had rescued and met back up with Shao-Shao again. This Legion was playing a different game, and in this game, Hot Rod was the bait.


	10. Pursuit of Hot Rod

The Secret of the Legion 10

Disclaimer: Usual disclaimers apply. This story follows some of the continuity and concepts put forward in my Fragments story. This story is being shortened from original plans, especially since no one seems to care about it anymore… but I still like relaying my own take on Kiss Players. Anyway, this story should be getting interesting soon.

The Quintisson stared at the monitor screens with curiosity. "During the attack on Autobot unit 01, the Legion went berserk, acting on their own animal like instinct…"

"I thought you corrected that problem," the human woman and EDF-Japan head respectfully asked. Although she was human, she was distant, as if there was not much of her Humanity left in her. She assumed her dead feeling was from the guilt of sending so many of her fellow EDF officers to death in the field or the secret laboratories, in reality the reason was far different and known only to the Quintisson.

"That is correct, the problem was solved and the Legion dispatched after Autobot unit 02. The Legion functioned properly and according to plan save for one unit which has gone rogue and taken itself off our grid. This is both a worrisome yet hopeful development. While the disobedience is an opportunity for improvement, the independent action could indicate free will and an independent spark."

Amano gazed up at the alien with her vacant eyes, despite being above human average intelligence she was ignorant of the technologies the Quintisson was referring to.

"However," the alien continued, "Unit 02 is escaping the trap set by the Legion. Send in your forces."

Nodding, Amano moved away, speaking into her headset, "Attention Rat Squad: A rouge Transformer has been located. Subdue or Destroy; last seen at these coordinates…"

Elsewhere, a red pickup truck sat out of sight, behind a dumpster. In the drivers seat, Marissa Fairborne hung up her cell phone, and addressed the truck, "Well, we have located him."

"You are sure it is Hot Rod?" Optimus Prime's voice filled the cab.

"No doubt about it, reports say he defended a couple from a group of Legion, and is on the run."

"Have the others plot a suitable intercept location. We will meet them there, its time to end this."

Sirens blazing, the three remaining Autotroopers and members of the EDF's Rat Squad tore down the streets. Atari's car pulled off at the site where Hot Rod had engaged in combat moments before, while Ringo and Kaori continued on after the red sports car that was rapidly speeding away from the area. Ringo contained her rage that Atari insisted on taking statements from the survivors and accessing the damage of the situation instead of pursuing the target. What happened didn't matter, whatever the excuse, her job was to kill or capture the Autobot.

She would deal with Atari later, and she was sure she would enjoy it. In the meantime she and Kaori continued the chase following the red car as it darted through traffic. The Autobot obviously detected them, but it would not escape them.

A few minutes into the chase, Ringo's attention was again distracted by Atari when her voice came over the radio. "The Autobot's innocent, it protected the people from the Legion. Still plenty dead, but the Legion did that. We shouldn't destroy it."

Like that matters to anything, Ringo thought. "We follow our orders, Atari. Hurry and catch up to us, we may need back up."

"Im getting tired of running," Hot Rod said, skidding to a stop.

"What are you going to do?" Shao Shao asked.

"Ill give them a chance. If they are set on fighting, Ill finish my conflict with them once and for all."

"No, you cant. They are my friends!"

"Are they really?" Hot Rod asked, the time he had spent in hiding was taking its toll on his patience. "If I remember right, they had you stripped naked, tied up, and were about to let you be eaten by a Legion." The transformer transformed into his robot mode, his triple blaster mounted on his arm and twin guns in hand.

Thoughts of Ringo flashed through her head. "Most of them are my friends, and they have no idea that there is some sort of link between the EDC and the Legion."

Hot Rod paused, and forced himself to calm down. "No, you are right. I'd bet the Qunitisson is behind this whole thing. I just wish I knew what was going on here." He repositioned his twin guns so they would function as tonfa melee weapons.

Two Autotroopers pulled up and transformed, merging with their drivers. Shao-Shao recognized Ringo and Kaori, but she wondered where Kayu was.

Hot Rod stood his ground, "I had nothing to do with the Legion that attacked, so let me go."

"That's not an option, Autobot," the Autotrooper that was Ringo said.

"Now, what we have here is a simple misunderstanding," Hot Rod said, "I wasn't asking."

Atari hurried as fast as she could, but by the time she caught up with the others it was already too late. A large red white and yellow robot stood poised over the two fallen, yet functional, Autotroopers of her fellow Rat Squad mates. She felt shamed that she was partly glad that Ringo had been beaten, but she was genuinely worried about Kaori. She transformed and merged with her Autotrooper.

"Leave them alone!" Atari shouted, her Autotrooper pointing at Hot Rod, its Gatling Cannon at the ready in its other hand.

"Fine" Hot Rod said, "I'm done here anyway. You will find they are unharmed, if a bit humbled." He didn't actually look at her, but kept his eyes scanning the horizon.

Atari's eyes fixed on the angry look she was getting from Shao-Shao, and it disturbed her as she didn't even recognize the Chinese woman. So fixed was she on the angry face glaring at her that she didn't notice that Hot Rod had transformed until Shao-Shao climbed into him and drove off.

"You dumb Bitch, why didn't you shoot it?!" Ringo shouted from within her Autotrooper, as she and Kaori's Autotroopers began struggling to get up.

"I'm sorry…" Atari began, but her attention was soon diverted elsewhere by a black car heading towards them at an impossibly high speed.

It paid no attention to Hot Rod, focused entirely on the Autotroopers.

Atari raised her Gatling cannon and fired at the black car. Cannon shells tore up the pavement where the car had been, as for the car, it was flying through the air, twisting and changing its form landing in the shape of a humanoid robot with the face of a Legion.


	11. Rat Squad vs Legion

Secret of the Legion 11

Disclaimers: I do not own the rights to Transformers, Alternators or Kiss Players, or Binaltech.

Moving unlike any Legion the Rat Squad had ever seen before, the black Legion moved in quickly. Kaori and Atari found themselves kicked back out of the way and stunned. The Legion directed the focus of its furiously brutal attack on Ringo in her Autotrooper.

Ringo, one of the most skilled Autotrooper pilots found herself outmatched. Each attempt her Autotrooper made to move was quickly countered by a blow forcing the limb back into a submissive position. Each blow seemed unusually directed and purposeful.

Atari, in her Autotrooper, got to her feet and tried to come to her teammate's aid, but as soon as she got within reach the Legion kicked out, knocking her down again.

Raising her K-gun, Kaori's Autotrooper fired. The Legion snarled in pain, giving the Autotrooper an evil look.

Kaori fired again, but this time the Legion held up Ringo's Autotrooper as a shield. The Autotrooper sparked along the exposed circuitry down the Autotrooper's neck. The Legion grinned, before breaking the Autotrooper's neck and throwing the entire mech at Kaori.

Within her Autotrooper, Atari realized that her timer would soon expire, and she, Kaori and Ringo would all be forcibly ejected from their Autotroopers. It would mean certain death if it happened in front of the Legion. She had to save her teammates from that fate. "Kaori, get back! Disengage!" Atari screamed, as her Autotrooper raised its Gatling Cannon.

Atari fired, while Kaori quickly retreated so she could demerge from her Autotrooper. As cannon rounds plowed the ground where the Legion once stood. The Legion leapt to dodge the attack, gracefully dancing through the air landing directly in front of Atari.

With one swipe, the Legion knocked Atari's Gatling cannon aside and poised its other hand to crush down on her Autotrooper's head. Then, it didn't attack. Its hand froze, then lowered and it took a step back as if seeing the Autotrooper for the first time. Turning it ran down the street before transforming and driving away.

Atari couldn't even think of pursuing it, her own timer was only moments from expiring. She demerged from her Autotrooper as it transformed. She had started carrying a bathrobe in the seat next to her, which she put on to cover her slime covered nakedness. While Ringo and some others seemed to enjoy standing naked and covered in slime in the middle of the street after a fight, she was much too modest. Especially in front of Ringo.

Kaori drove her Autotrooper up and parked along side Ringo's fallen trooper. Atari walked over to join her.

"She was merged longer than either of us, why hasn't she come out yet?" Atari asked.

"You're right. She should have at least been forcibly ejected by now," Kaori agreed.

Amano ran towards them, coming from out of nowhere, her normally off the shoulders kimono nearly falling off in her haste. "Get her out!" She yelled at the remaining members of Rat Squad, "Get her out now!"

Atari repressed the desire to do nothing as well as the guilt for that desire, and turned to her Autotrooper. It transformed into its robot mode, and Atari stepped back out of the way. "Do it," she told it.

Using a dexterity greater than the typical non-merged Autotrooper, Atari's Autotrooper stepped over and grasped each side of the destroyed Autotrooper's chest and pulled, tearing the mecha's torso apart digging down to the pilot, Ringo. The Autotrooper reeled back when it noticed the status of Ringo.

Atari immediately threw up, while that much more life faded from Amano's eyes, while Kaori's expression was that of repulsion and disgust. They couldn't actually be sure if she was dead yet, but if she wasn't, it wouldn't be long. Ringo no longer had any skin, she was a mass of bones and organs, and even some of them appeared to be partially digested.

"What the fuck happened to her?" Kaori asked, not really expecting an answer. She and Atari both looked at their Autotroopers as if seeing them for the first time. Hearing them for the first time. The Autotroopers gave their human partners an unheard explanation.

"You bitch," Kaori said to Amano.

Atari didn't say anything. She just looked up at her Autotrooper, which shrunk back from her giving the appearance of shame.

Hot Rod screeched to a stop. "Better get out," he told Shao-Shao. Although confused, the girl did as he suggested.

The road had the look of a show down, she thought. Hot Rod was on her end of the street and on the other end a red Dodge Ram pickup truck. A girl with blond hair was rapidly exiting that truck as well, making her way to the sidewalk. Shao-Shao decided that was a good idea as well.

Hot Rod transformed into his robot mode, and as he did the Dodge Ram transformed into Optimus Prime.

"Hot Rod, we need to talk."

Hot Rod shook his head. "I'm sorry Optimus, but your dead and it was all my fault. But there is no way I am going to let some Decepticon fake run rampant on Earth!"


	12. Hot Rod Vs Optimus Prime

The Secret of the Legion 12

Optimus Prime Vs Hot Rod

Disclaimers: My reimagining of Kiss Players continues. I still do not own the rites to Transformers, Kiss Players or anything else. The story makes use of concepts and continuities mentioned in my story Fragments.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Hot Rod," Optimus Prime said, crouching into a combat stance, holding his surf saber knives in a defensive position.

"Unless you are willing to surrender to the inevitable, I think we do!" Hot Rod shouted back, a gun in each hand, and his triple beam blaster on his forearm.

"It's not a trick, I really am Optimus Prime," Optimus said, trying to calm down his fellow Autobot and fellow Alternator. The trouble was that Hot Rod's memory had been altered. "Do you remember Wheeljack scanning your spark for Project: Alt—" Before Optimus could finish his sentence he had to duck a laser blast from one of Hot Rod's guns.

"You may think you are Optimus Prime," Hot Rod said, "But he and Megatron died in 2005."

That was true, the original Optimus Prime had died from wounds he got from fighting Megatron in Autobot City. Some time before that had happened the Binaltech augmented Omnibot, Overdrive appeared in New York with a plan to prevent alterations to the timeline and the technology to clone sparks and place them in human constructed bodies. Chip Chase had taken that alternate universe Binaltechnology to create Project: Alternator to make clones of Optimus Prime, Wheeljack and several other Autobots that future histories said would die during the War and several whose ultimate fates were unknown.

Hot Rod continued, "So whatever you really are, you cant be up to any good, and Im going to have to stop you." He fired again, but Optimus continued to dodge. The stray shots set fire to the building behind him.

Optimus realized that Hot Rod could not be reasoned with easily, but that was something he had planned for. First he had to limit the danger to the bystanders by taking to combat to close range. Stray shots were too risky. Hand to hand combat also gave him a slight advantage in that his truck form gave him more bulk with which to combat Hot Rod, but while his original truck body had been much stronger, the human built joints and servos in his Alternator body were just as strong as those in Hot Rod or any other Alternator body, so that was not much of an advantage to him. A disadvantage to going hand to hand was that the close association Hot Rod had with Shao-Shao gave him a real advantage in martial arts skills for Hand to Hand combat. For the plan to work, he only needed to move the fight slightly.

Someone had already called the police, as police cruisers moved in to contain the fight and keep civilians out of harms way. That had also been planned for, Prime had to trust that his own allies in the Police Force were in position to help, and to keep the EDF away long enough for them to do what had to be done.

"I'm trying to reason with you, Hot Rod," Optimus Prime explained, "but if force is what it will take, then you force me to oblige." Optimus charged at a blinding speed, too quickly for Hot Rod to target him with is pistols, but when Optimus used his knives to slash the guns out of Hot Rod's hands, the swipes were blocked as Hot Rod had already converted his pistols into Tonfa.

Hot Rod pressed his advantage, using the tonfa to strike Optimus in the head which stunned him enough for Hot Rod to send him reeling with a kick. Hot Rod moved in to continue his assault, striking Optimus numerous times, the other Autobot doing little more than attempting to fend off the hits while slowly backing up.

Optimus was forced further and further back, until finally Hot Rod found the opening he was looking for and landed a powerful kick, throwing Optimus down a large side street.

Winded, Optimus struggled to get up, while at either end of the street, a police car moved to block all other traffic. Hot Rod was oblivious to the Police cars, or any of the other numerous cars parked on this particular road as he converted his tonfa back into pistols and combined them into one for maximum damage.

Hot Rod leveled the gun at Optimus. "I'm sorry, whoever you are, but this has to be done," he said, moving closer.

"As am I," Optimus said, his fist flashing out and striking Hot Rod in the face, physically lifting him off the ground.

Hot Rod struggled to get back to his feet, and could not locate his gun. His eyes were fixed on Optimus Prime who stood before him, no where nearly as badly damaged as he had seemed moments before.

"Now," Optimus said.

A green jeep that was parked next to where Optimus was standing transformed, but instead of being a Legion it had the face of Hound.

"Hound? But," Hot Rod began.

"Its true, Hot Rod," Hound said, "This really is Optimus Prime. Do you need another opinion?"

Hot Rod looked around him, turning in a circle. One by one each of the cars parked on the street transformed into someone he knew. Some of them he knew to be dead, but many more he knew to be alive. Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Blaster, Skids, Smokescreen, Jazz, Windcharger, Mirage, and more. The police cars on either end of the street also transformed, revealing Prowl and Red Alert.

"Me, Grimlock, hate car mode! Want classic body style back!" Grimlock said from behind him.

Wheeljack stepped forward. "Do you remember Project Alternator?"

Hot Rod looked confused so Optimus added, "You, along with others, including those here, were asked to submit for a spark scan at the labs of Chip Chase."

"You mean that stupid human experiment run by the guy in the wheel chair?" Hot Rod asked, the memory was obviously not coming easily to him.

"Yes," Optimus said, "But it was more than just a Human experiment."

"They copied you, man," Jazz added, "We are all clones of our original selves."

"You mean, Im a fake?" Hot Rod asked, the reality of the situation finally setting in.

"No!" Wheeljack said. "You are real, Hot Rod, just as real as the other… uh, Hot Rod is. Just as I am as real as the other me would be if I, er, he still lived."

"Apparently your apparent lack of reading any of the memos on Project Alternator has partly caused this situation," Skids said.

"Yes," Optimus Prime agreed, "It will be difficult explaining all of this to Rodimus."

"Never mind that," Hot Rod said, "With this many Autobots here, we can actually do something about the Legion and that Quintisson!"

Continued…


End file.
